Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Primal Strips-vegan jerky review

I have been buying Primal jerky for years now. I like the juicy, "meaty", and flavorful Primal Strips. They are all natural, low in fat, high in protein, and they contain only Non-GMO ingredients. They don't contain any MSG, artificial colors or preservatives. Unfortunately, my local stores offer a very limited selection of this jerky so I could not do a full review based only on two flavors that I knew. Primal Spirit Foods was nice and sent me some samples to try so I had a chance to try all of their flavors. I was even able to share some with few of my friends, some meat eaters and some vegans. They all liked it. Primal Strips are flavorful, moist flaky layers of soy, seitan or shiitake mushrooms. The texture is very different from Vegan Dream Jerky or Tofurky Jerky (Jurky).

"Thai Peanut"-Seitan

1 oz package contains 74 calories, 2 g of fat, 10 g of protein

Peanut butter and fresh Thai basil give this jerky a very nutty and savory flavor. You can taste the peanuts very well. I tried adding some to my stir-fry instead of the usual tofu and it was pretty good.

This is a sweet, juicy and smoky treat. It has the right amount of spiciness, smokiness and sweetness.

"Hickory Smoked"-Soy

1 oz package contains 99 calories, 3 g of fat, 10 g of protein

I love this salty, smoky jerky. It tastes like it was smoked over a real hickory wood. I am not a big fan of licorice root, but I hardly noticed the licorice in this jerky. I noticed a hint of black pepper though that was very nice. It is so good!

"Teriyaki"-Seitan

1 oz package contains 99 calories, 3 g of fat, 11 g of protein

This jerky does not taste like teriyaki to me, even though it is sweet and salty. It is quite good, but it didn't blow me away.

"Hot & Spicy"-Shiitake Mushrooms

1 oz package contains 108 calories, 4 g of fat, 6 g of protein

WOW! They were not kidding when they named this jerky "Hot & Spicy". It is very spicy. Unfortunately for me, the licorice root overpowers any other flavors in this jerky, so it tastes like a licorice and hot sauce to me. That isn't a bad thing if you like licorice and a hot sauce, specially if they are combined.

My favorite three flavors are "Mesquite Lime"-Seitan, "Hickory Smoked"-Soy, and "Texas BBQ"-Soy. They are amazing!

About Me

I am a Czech Vegan living in America. I am working on my first vegan cookbook. On this blog I share my recipes, my thoughts on vegan living, vegan products reviews and other fun things. Two of my recipes were published in the Vegetarian Times magazine, as winning recipes in their recipe contests (November/December 2010 issue and September 2012 issue) and another recipe was published by Eating Well in the cookbook EatingWell Fast & Flavorful Meatless Meals: 150 Healthy Recipes Everyone Will Love (2011), and Eating Well magazine (August 2012 issue).
I love cooking and baking, running, and I enjoy veganizing Czech and American recipes. I am an animal rescuer, chocoholic and a tea lover.
I would like to mention that some of the products that I talk about on my blog were generously given to me with no obligation to write a positive review. If you make vegan products and want them to be featured and reviewed on my blog, let me know. You can email me at czechvegan (at) yahoo.com. My old email address czech.vegan (at) yahoo.com was compromised so I can no longer access it.